


Helping Hands

by chibi_zoe



Category: Naruto
Genre: Family, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-15
Updated: 2014-11-15
Packaged: 2018-02-25 12:44:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2622221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chibi_zoe/pseuds/chibi_zoe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Every Halloween Minato sees Kakashi, even after sacrificing himself for their village.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Helping Hands

Title: Helping Hands  
Author: chibi-zoe  
Series: Naruto  
Pairing: Minato  
Rating: G  
Summary: Every Halloween Minato sees Kakashi, even after sacrificing himself for their village.

Minato is lounging beside his sensei at the edges of training field when his sensei’s friend Sakumo, Konoha’s White Fang, ambles towards them. Trailing behind the fearsome ninja is a little boy, barely more than a toddler, who is decked out with tiny weapons pouches, which are later revealed to contain tiny weapons – Minato is instantly captivated. He attempts to make friends with the pale boy, who is surprisingly shy, but fails in the face of the boys’ father who sets the child to training. Unable to resist joining in, Minato is surprised to find that the boy is remarkably talented.

Next Halloween, Minato finds that Kakashi has grown larger, become more skilled, and is now even more withdrawn. He attempts to tell Jiraiya-sensei about his concerns, but they are brushed aside. The boy, he is told, is a genius. It would be a crime to deny him training. His pleas for socialisation fall on deaf ears. He is assured by Sakumo that Kakashi-chan is an Academy student who has plenty of friends. The mortified expression on the boys’ face goes unnoticed by anyone but Minato. Pretending that he hadn’t seen it, he invites the little boy to another training session.

A precocious child is what everyone else sees when they look at Kakashi. Minato sees a lonely little boy with a lot of talent who could be nurtured into the greatest ninja alive. When the boy graduates the Academy, Minato volunteers to take him on. Sakumo is not there to protest, but many of Sandaime’s advisers are very vocal in their objections. They want an older, more experienced Jounin to teach their prodigy, not someone who still doesn’t have to shave regularly. Luckily, Sandaime and Jiraiya-sensei both stand up for him, and Kakashi is passed into his care.

It is good to hear Kakashi-chan laugh, the boy is far too serious, Minato lets out a laugh of his own in response and continues his merciless tickling. This is supposed to be a lesson on escapology, but it has devolved into a giggle-fest. Minato fervently hopes that Sakumo-san is nowhere in the vicinity. He has already clashed several times with the heroic ninja over Kakashi-chan’s training, and knows full well that the older man would not approve of their fun. Gazing down at the grinning silver haired child, he feels his heart swell. 

The chuunin exams have come and gone, leaving Kakashi-kun as a fully-fledged, if very small, chuunin. Minato still feels that the boy is too young, but Sakumo-san’s persistence wore down his defences. Still, he praised the boy’s efforts sincerely and took him out to ramen to celebrate. Their missions together have been much more interesting now, although they are still kept close to the village. Minato is receiving training from Sandaime in what it takes to run a village. It’s not yet common knowledge that he will be Yondaime if he lives long enough, but he couldn’t resist telling Kakashi-kun.

The mask that Kakashi-kun has taken to wearing has a rather sinister edge to it. Minato knows better than to try talking the boy out of it, but he takes every opportunity that presents itself to see his student without it. Sakumo-san has said nothing about it and he has also ceased bothering Minato about his training methods. Minato isn’t sure that this is a good thing, but Kakashi-kun refuses to discuss it, and becomes more withdrawn than ever if Minato tries to push the issue. Gritting his teeth, he hopes that the boy will grow out of it.

Kakashi-kun appears to be doing everything in his power to deny his childish side. The boy has suddenly decided that he doesn’t like sweets and it has been months since Minato heard him laugh. Sakumo-san’s reputation in the village has taken an abrupt nose dive after a failed mission left several team-mates dead and their village compromised. Even knowing that the two events are linked, Minato has no idea how to go about helping Kakashi-kun to deal with it. Instead, he tries to just be there for the boy, providing wordless support and an endless stream of training exercises.

Needing to work on Kakashi-kun’s teamwork skills, Minato decides to accept two other Academy graduates so that they are a proper four-cell unit. Kakashi-kun, predictably, objects to being saddled with two raw recruits, but Minato happily ignores him and takes all of them out to ramen. When the two boys take an almost instant dislike to each other, Minato secretly rejoices, any strong reaction out of his reticent student is better than none. Sakumo-san apparently has no opinion on the subject and shuts the door in Minato’s face.

Of all the things that Sakumo-san could have done, Minato never suspected that he would take his own life. Kakashi-kun withdraws even further into himself, not even his teammates can draw him out. In order to reassure himself that the boy is alright, Minato forcibly moves Kakashi-kun into his apartment with him, steadfastly ignoring the old gossips around the village and their poisonous vitriol. With constant, if stealthy, care and attention Kakashi-kun slowly starts to emerge from his shell, but the boy he is now barely resembles the boy he used to be.

With Kakashi-kun nearly at jounin level, Minato starts taking his team on harder and harder missions. The war is getting bad and Konoha needs every ninja. The two genin in their little squad have a steep and bloody learning curve, but Minato knows that they are capable of handling it. Rin-chan is already showing signs of becoming a very capable medic-nin, and Minato takes every opportunity for her to receive extra training in this area. Obito-kun is still struggling to find a direction in life. Minato doesn’t push him; he knows that the Uchiha will settle down one day.

Losing a student is the worst thing that Minato has ever experienced; worse than losing his parents or his teammates. He feels innately responsible for Obito-kun’s death, although he refrains from beating himself up over it like Kakashi-kun. The silver-haired boy has undergone yet another dramatic personality change and Minato can’t quite make himself believe that it is merely puberty. Instead, he listens to his own sensei’s advice and keeps smiling and trying to provide the best support that he can around his increasingly hectic schedule. 

Kakashi-kun gives him a genuine smile on his inauguration, and treats him to ramen. Minato wishes that he had something like Obito’s sharingan to preserve the moment. Laughing and roughhousing with his student, he is reminded of the days before Sakumo-san’s disgrace. He doesn’t tell Kakashi-kun though; the boy is still rather sensitive on the issue of his father, although the pain of betrayal appears to be lessening. Rin-chan manages to make the celebratory dinner as well, and Minato ruffles her hair playfully, teasing her about finally making chuunin.

Taking a foreign wife is a fact of life for the Hokage of a hidden village, and Minato is overjoyed to find that Kushina is both comely and pleasantly tempered. He only wishes that Rin-chan could’ve met her. He is sure that they would’ve gotten along well. Kakashi-kun is working himself into the ground trying to relieve his guilt over the girls’ death, but Minato is keeping a close eye on his remaining student, and as Kushina’s belly swells with burgeoning life, he finds the boy choosing shorter, less dangerous missions.

Kyuubi is coming, trailing death and destruction in his wake, and there is nothing that Minato can do about it. The village is looking to him for salvation and there is only one way that Minato knows of to banish a demon and to protect his beloved village for the next generation. Kushina’s time is imminent and Minato does not confide in her, his plan would only distress her needlessly. Kakashi-kun is suspicious, but does not question Minato’s orders, carrying out each task to the best of his, not-inconsiderable, abilities.

Death is remarkably boring and Minato relishes this one day when he can be free in the world again. His first sight is of the KIA stone, and he sees his own name mixed in with countless others, some familiar and some not. Kakashi-kun’s name is not carved there and neither is Naruto-chan’s. Closing his eyes, he thinks of his student, and when he opens them again, Kakashi-kun is lying before him. The boy is alarmingly thin, and although the apartment is spotless, it has that un-lived-in feel of an ANBU’s accommodation. There is no sign of Naruto-chan.

Hovering behind Kakashi-kun’s motionless form, Minato watches as his son toddles towards the swings. It breaks his heart to see the way the adults shy away from his son. Naruto-chan should be a hero, holding the kyuubi securely within him, but able to access its’ power for the good of the village. He wonders why Kakashi-kun doesn’t go down to help the child, and turns to look at his student. Kakashi-kun gives Naruto-chan a long look and then he slides an expressionless ANBU mask over his features, resolutely turns his back, and leaps in to the trees.

Kakashi-kun has the soft look of someone in love and Minato wishes that he were alive to tease the young man. There are no pictures in the apartment, no gifts, and no love notes – Minato checked thoroughly. He wonders who it could be. Is it someone that he knows or is it someone that Kakashi-kun has met since Minato sacrificed his life for his village? There is still no sign of Naruto-chan and Minato wonders if Kakashi-kun has forgotten his promise to care for the boy. Thinking of his child, he is drawn to a dingy apartment where the little blond boy is playing by himself.

In the ten years that Minato has been watching Kakashi-kun, he is still no closer to finding out who holds the man’s affections, he has never seen signs of anyone else living in the tiny apartment and there are still no photos, but the soft smile is there every year when he visits. There is also no sign that Naruto-kun’s lot in life is getting any better. His little boy is still living in squalor, all by himself in the worst section of town. If only he could make himself seen or heard, he would give the villagers a piece of his mind.

At last! Kakashi-kun and Naruto-kun are together. Minato feels his heart swell with love at the sight of his children; the son of his heart and the son of his loins. He wishes them both a happy and long life – the first time that he has ever spoken directly to them – and is surprised when they both smile and thank him for his kind words. Obito’s sharingan is swirling in Kakashi-kun’s face and Naruto-kun’s eyes are red with the power of the kyuubi. Minato kicks himself for not realising sooner that his sons could see him.


End file.
